There's No Honor In Playing It Safe - The Mindset of An Explorer

Stop playing it safe. Because it’s leading you down the same soul-crushing path that so many others have traveled only for you to realize that you missed your opportunity to LIVE, and instead you've merely just existed.

If you've ever traveled to a new place and explored with no itinerary, no specific place to be at any specific time, then you understand that sometimes it’s better to just be present in the moment rather than being so fixated on future expectations.

You realize that there is a certain satisfaction that’s experienced when you give yourself a license to do things without the goal of getting things done.

It is an irony of life that the act of doing without regard for the outcome, somehow yields better circumstances than doing as a means to achieving the desired outcome.

“The man who loves walking will walk further than the man who loves the destination.” - Plato

Yet life seems to always be about the destination.  It’s always about the rewards, the accomplishments, the accolades, and the acquisition of symbols of status.

We live in a world today that only seems to celebrate people who know exactly where they are going - people who have it all figured out. Society gives the impression that a successful life should be a series of sequential events that unfold exactly as planned leading to what it has designated to be the pillars of happiness and life satisfaction:

• getting promoted to that highly coveted job title

• buying a home with enough closet space to rival a clothing store

• buying that German-engineered car with more cupholders than seats

• taking trips to Santorini and posting all about it on social media

• etc.

But I couldn’t disagree with this approach more…

While these are all great things that for sure amplify life, I disagree that taking the predictable path in life in pursuit of these pre-defined markers of happiness, is indicative of a successful life.

I personally see this path as a straight line directly to the grave with no interesting twists and turns along the way. 

“We overvalue nonessentials like a nicer car or house, or even intangibles like the number of our followers on Twitter or the way we look in our Facebook photos. As a result, we neglect activities that are truly essential, like spending time with our loved ones, or nurturing our spirit, or taking care of our health.” - Greg McKeown

I’d dare to say that it is better, and more natural to take the scenic route in life with unexpected detours and wrong turns. This is what makes the journey more interesting.  It makes the path worth traveling. This is how you discover new things about the world, and about yourself.

There are lots of ways society forces us down the safe path. I think one of the most relatable examples is the idea that your resume needs to show a clear progression of continuous career advancement, with no extended employment gaps that might draw scrutiny.

Thus, many people play it safe by sticking to the same trajectory that everyone else is on so that they don't stand out.

This applies to so much more in life, but I think the career history example is one that most can relate to.

Taking the Non-Linear Path

I studied engineering in undergrad. The expected path would have been to advance my career in this particular discipline…. maybe become a manager, or a subject matter expert, or a department head.

But throughout my life I also was a music producer, I ran a nightclub promotion business, I became a real estate investor, I worked in multiple industries in corporate America.

Today some would call me a content creator, and depending on which of my content you are most familiar with, you may call me a blogger, or a YouTuber, or a fitness influencer.

I’ve gone from living in the United States deeply entrenched in the corporate rat-race to quitting my job with no plans on what to do next, and now I find myself living in Europe as a solo entrepreneur.

This is what the non-linear path looks like.

"The goal is not to make life easy; it is to keep life interesting." - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Had I subscribed to the idea that my career, and my life needed to follow along a predefined trajectory, then I would have missed out on so many experiences that have afforded me nuanced perspectives that have helped me to really elevate my mind, my body, and my life in general.

I wasn’t moving through life necessarily with the understanding that I was taking the scenic route. I wasn’t intelligent enough to figure that out about myself. But hindsight is always clearer than foresight and looking backward I now realize that I was taking the path that prioritized fulfillment and self-actualization over the conventional markets of success.

The Story of Humanity Is The Story Of Exploration and Discovery

I find it fascinating how disconnected civilizations around the world have birthed similar technologies like pottery, like spears and arrows, and even pyramids.  These commonalities across disjointed societies speak to the notion that humans possess a universal suite of characteristics that are innate to our very existence.

Some things are just facts of life, because they’re written into the rules of nature.

A dog is genetically hardcoded to bark and to mark it's territory. It’s just what they do.

Birds don’t have to master the aerodynamic properties of incompressible fluids to fly. Flight is just an intuitive ability that they are born with.

Just like other creatures living into their primal nature, humans too are genetically hardcoded to possess certain characteristics.  It’s written in our genetic code to instinctually walk on two feet.  It’s written into our genetic code to instinctually communicate through complex language. It is also our primal nature to be curious, to seek out answers to the unknown, to take risks in the name of exploration and discovery.

We have always been explorers – from discovering the depths of the ocean, to looking into increasingly distant reaches of outer space, to unlocking the innermost parts of the subconscious mind.

Thus, the pinnacle of the human experience is to be in a state of exploration, a state of discovery, a state of deviating away from the safety of what is known and venturing into the unknown…. a state of being so deeply invested in a process that places us just beyond the boundaries of our comfort zones.

This is the state of flow:

“The best moments in our lives, are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times—although such experiences can also be enjoyable, if we have worked hard to attain them. The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, also goes on to state that:

“By stretching skills, by reaching toward higher challenges, a person becomes an increasingly extraordinary individual.”

Translation...

The optimal human experience resides in the process of growing, learning, and discovering.

In humanity’s history of exploration, sometimes outcomes were favorable. New lands were discovered, new species of plants and animals were found, more comprehensive understandings of the universe were constructed.

But also sometimes with exploration, disaster has struck. People have gotten lost, people have gotten sick, and people have paid the ultimate price.

Earnest Shackleton, the leader of one of the most epic voyages and survival stories in modern history is rumored to have posted an ad for his doomed Antarctic exploration:

“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in event of success.”

The authenticity of this ad remains uncertain; however the risks would have certainly been known as it was a multi-year journey that entailed trekking by foot across the continent during a time before satellite communications, GPS navigation, or air rescue missions to the continent were possible.… and men still volunteered for the mission.

Despite the unpredictability of the outcome, we still do it because it satisfies our instinctual drive to explore.

Being entrenched in the journey, irrespective of outcomes, is foundational to living an optimal human experience.

What If the Journey Is Also the Destination?

To truly align with your calling in life, you must first overcome the social conditioning that has discouraged you from following your innate desire to explore.  It subtly coerces you to follow along the predictable path that leads to what society deems the markers of a life well lived.

This is how so many people end up following the rules only to realize later in life that they are unfulfilled or missing the fire that they once had when they were younger.

People go into respectable professions with the expectation of the career advancing along a specified and predefined trajectory.

People go into relationships with the expectation that it should unfold in a very specific manner.

People orient their lives around the promise of rewards that society has determined to be their source of happiness... so they hold back on pursuing their real dreams, their primal inclinations because the outcome is unknown... it's too uncertain.

So people miss out on their opportunity to turn life into an interesting journey that corresponds with the optimal human experience.

Just think about it….

Have you started a fitness journey with a fixation on losing X number of pounds rather than focusing your energy on being fully present in the process of bettering yourself? Why can’t the journey, the exploration, the self-discovery be the intention while weight loss and muscle gain is the natural result of being present in the self-betterment process?

When you ditch the outcome-focused mindset and become an explorer, the act of doing, the act of working out, the discomfort of struggling and eventually overcoming challenges, operating at the edge of your comfort zone puts you into the flow state.

And in that experience, losing 20 lbs becomes a natural byproduct of discovering the limits of your body and physical abilities.

If you have aspirations to do like I did and move outside of the U.S., or if you have a desire to leave your 9-5 and become a solo-entrepreneur, you must first ditch the outcome-oriented thinking, and shift into the mindset of an explorer who places extreme value on the sheer act of doing, and the growth that comes from it.

The explorer detaches from society’s measures of success, and re-defines success by his ability to be present in a journey that satisfies is primal inclination for learning, mastery, and self-discovery.

When life presents you with an opportunity to be an explorer… take it.

We live in such an outcome-oriented culture, that the value of exploration is overlooked in the name of playing it safe for the promise of outcomes that don't come close to bringing us the optimal human experience.

The promise of being able to buy new and shiny things, to enjoy symbols of status, and to live the comfortable life, leads so many down the predictable path, ignoring their innate desires to explore that which is interesting to them.

And this is why the world is now filled with, as Thoreau would put it, people who are living lives of quiet desperation.

But you don’t have to be one of them.  You can choose to opt for the path that speaks to your primal inclinations and your innate desire to explore topics and ideas that are of highest interest to you... to take unusual paths in life in which the destination is unknown.

By doing so, you’ll get lost in the journey, and be in a state of flow that makes life far more enjoyable.

If this message resonates with you then feel free to book a 90-minute coaching consultation with me. Or if you want to start getting serious about your fitness then check out my 60-day primal challenge which is designed to help you get focused on prioritizing your physical, your cognitive, and your mental health, because when you are your highest and best self in these three areas of life, you are better position to live the life of an explorer and to achieve a state of flow.